Rail-joint.



PATENTED JUN-B2, 1903.

(1- F. HALL. RAIL JOINT.

APPLIOATIOH mum 0013.18, 1902.

N0 KODEL WIT/V SE8:

AZTOHNYS IN VENTOR No. 729,576. PATENTED JUNE 2, 1903..

. G. F. HALL.

RAIL JOINT.

. APPLICATION rum) 001'. 18. 1902. no MODEL. 3 sums-sum 2.

WITNESS s.- r //vv /vr0/2 ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES" Patented June 2, 1903.

i PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. HALL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO HALL COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

RAIL JOINT RAIL-JOINT;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 72 dated 3 11116 Application filed October 18, 1902. Serial No. 127,799. (No model.)

To all whom/nit may concern:

Be it known that LCHARLES F. HALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention relates moreparticularly to that class of rail-joints employed for holding the ends of railway-rails in alinement, supporting the sameagainst deflection, and allowing for the creep of the rails caused by tractive eifort of the wheels of the rollingstock and by the contraction and expansion ,due to the variations in temperature of the climate.

I am aware that rail-joints have been made with a base or bottom plate having inwardlyinclined flanges and sidepl'ates, with their lower edges tapered in line parallel with the longitudinal axes of the rails and bearing against the base-plate; but it has been demonstrated in practice that, as a rule, wedgeshaped rail-joints are ineffectual, owing to the spreading of the top of the side bars or Wedges, which bear under the head of the rail, thereby causing the Wedges to work loose and necessitating the .use of some form of lock, which only multiplies the number of the parts and complicates the form 'of the joint. My

invention is designed to overcome these devide a wedged joint which shall be capable of grippingone of, the rails tighter than the contiguous rail, whereby the former rail may be utilized as fananchor-rail and the other one permitted to go and come with expansion and contraction and the tractive force of the rolling-stock;

With these ends in view my invention consists in certain features of novelty in the construction, combination, and arrangement by which said objects and certain other objects hereinafter appearing are attained, all as fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of two railway-rails with my improved splice applied thereto, and Fig. 2 is a crosssection thereof. Fig. 3 is an enlarged diagram of one-half of cross-section shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan view of three railwayrails with my improved joint or splice applied thereto; and Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic View of a single railway-track, showing the application of my rail-joint in combination with three or more railway-rails.

The rail shown as an example for the illustration of my invention is of the form comprising a head 1 and vertical web 2 and a baseflange 3, the upper surface of which latter is beveled or inclined downwardly on both sides of the webat an angle of about thirteen degrees,-while the under side of the head 1 is beveled upwardly at about the same angle, as is customaryin standard rails of this type. At the point where the rails come together end to end, as is represented by the lines 4, I place under them a base-plate 5, which is laterally extended beyond the edges of the track-rail base-flange on both sides of the rail, and the upper sides of these extensions are formed with flanges 6, which extend nearly parallel with the longitudinal axis of the rails a short distance beyond the point of conj unction 4 in both directions, and in order that the rails may be readily centered between these flanges 6 the upper surface of the baseplate 5 may be formed with a countersink or seat 7, approximately the same in width as that of the base-flange 3. At the end of the base-plate 5, opposite to the vertex of the angle formed by the converging flanges 6 in the direction of the longitudinal axes of the rails, is formed a-flange 19, extending outwardly and transversely of ewlongitudinal axes of the rails. .Theflanges 6 gradually converge from end'to end, and placed between one of these flanges and the head of the rail, preferably on each side, is a wedge or splice-plate 8, which takes its hearing at three pointsviz., under the head of the rail, against the upper side of the base-flange of the rail, and against the inner side of the flange 6--and this splice-plate 8 is also beveled or tapered at an angle nearly complementary to the angle of the flanges of the base-plate. This angle becomes complementary to the angle of the base-plate when the wedges 8 are driven into place, as shown, and expands the flange 19 an angular amount to bring the angle of the base-plate to fit the angle of the spliceplate 8. This change of angle is shown by the dotted lines 21. By driving the spliceplate endwise it will wedge between head 1 and the flange 6 and at the same time force downwardly against the base-flange of the rail, as shown in Fig. 2. The inner face of the flange 6 is somewhat undercut, so as to more or less overhang the splice-plate 8, the latter being provided along its lower edge with the lateral extension 9, whose outer edge is formed complementary in shape to the contour of the inner face of the flange 6, and in order that the inclination of the side pieces 8 may be more or less altered by the longitudinal driving of side pieces 8 the meeting face of the extension 9 and, the inner side of flange 6 are formed on a curve, as indicated by full line 10 at one point and dotted line 10 at another point, although this curvature is not necessary, as the angular change is slight and may be neglected. The upper edge of the wedge or side piece 8 is formed complementary to the under side of the head 1 and to the upper edge of the web 2 contiguous to the head, so that it may take firm bearing against the head at all times.

The lines 13, 15, 17, and 18 represent, respectively, the normals of the face 10, the top of the base-flange, the under side of the rail-head, and the surface of plate 8 in contact with the rail-web. The lower edge of the wedge-plate 8 is formed with a roller-base or rounded fulcrum-point 12, curving downwardly and located on the rail-flange at a point outward from the normal 17, so that the normal 15, which passes through the bearing-point 12, will intersect line 13 at a. point which, it connected to point of intersection of lines 17 18, will form with line 17 an outward acute angle 20, the outer side 16 of which represents the resultant or axis of stress of the two forces 17 18. The line 15 being the normal of rounded bearing 12, it must also be its radius, the length of which is determined by the length of the wedgeplate 8, with which the said radius is directly proportional, according to a familiar rule that the length of a bearing-roller should be approximately not less than three and onethird times its diameter. The plate 8 being usually about fourteen inches long, or fifteen inches to be safe, the center of bearing 12 would fall in line 15 at point 14, about half the height of the rail-web, or, in other words, bearing 12 for the standard-rail is struck on approximately a two-inch radius. The location of the bearing-point 12 with relation to the normal 17 may be any safe distance therefrom, insuring the inward squeezing action of the upper edges of the wedge-plates and the rotative action of'the projection 9.

With the rail-joint thus constructed it will be seen that in applying the device to the ends of the rails the base-plate 5 is first slipped under the meeting ends of the rails, preferably where one of the cross-ties T is situated, although this is not essential to the eificiency of the joint. The side pieces 8 are then driven endwise under the heads and against the flanges 6 with the heel 12 bearing downwardly upon the flange of the rail 3. Since the taper of the flange 6 is less than the corresponding taper of the extension 9 of the side pieces 8, the flange 19 of the base-plate 5 is forced or expanded outwardly by this longitudinal driving of the wedges 8, causing these wedges 8 to bear firmly against the head 1 of rail A and its flange and against the flange 6 of the base-plate 5, thus acquiring a grip on rail A stronger than will be obtained at the smaller end of the wedges 8 against contiguous rail B, as shown in Fig. 4, which accords with the object of my invention-viz., that of gripping one rail, as A, and allowing the other rail to be supported so that the latter rail may go and come or have a longitudinal travel without loosening the grip of the side pieces or wedges 8 and base-plate 19 on the rail A. Furthermore, with a rail-joint constructed as described it is apparent that when a load passes along the top of the rail a resultant stress passes transversely with the longitudinal axis of the rail normal to the upwardly-inclined under surface of the railhead corresponding to the line 17 in Fig. 3, so that the pressure upon the upper edges of the wedges 8 will give them a tendency to rock on their fulcrum-points 12, moving inwardly at their upper edges and upwardly at the outer edges of extensions 9, and inasmuch as the flanges 6 lean inwardly this upward motion of extensions 9 also results in inward motion of the lower edges of the wedge-plates 8, causing them to bind all the tighter against the head and base of the rail. NowI am aware that rounded heels have been given to wedge joints, which have for their object merely to form a convenient fitting-surface for the irregularity in the shape to be fitted, so that any form of curve on the inner edge at the heel is adapted to that purpose; but my invention seeks to obtain an inward gripping atthe base of the wedge 8 and a squeezing at the top thereof against the upper edge of the web 2.

curve of suitable radius tangent to the surface of the flange 3, which shall bring an intersection of lines 16 and 13 with the radius 15 to form the angle 20, thus preventing the This is devised by striking a" spread of the upper edges of the side pieces 8 by the pressure upon the rail.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a rail-joint the combination with the rail having a head, a web and a base flange, of a base-plate passing under the base-flange and having upwardly and inwardly inclined flanges at the sides thereof, and two longitudinally tapered inwardlyinclined wedgeplates arranged under both sides of the head and bearing thereagainst and also against the web, the top of the base-flange and the inner faces of the flanges on the base-plate and each provided with a rounded bearing where it impinges the base-flange, located outwardly from the normal line of the under side of the rail-head, substantially as set forth.

2. In a rail-joint the combination with the meeting endsof two rails, each having ahead, a web and base flange, withabase plate passing under the rails at their meeting-points and projecting laterally therefrom, and having at one end a flange extended outwardly and transversely to the longitudinal axis of the rail, said flange being on the end of said meeting ends of two rails, each havinga head,

a web and base flange, with a base-plate passing under thev rails at their meeting-point and projecting laterally therefrom, and hav: ing side flanges converging longitudinally from the end, with a flange extending outwardly and transversely to the longitudinal the flanges of the base-plates, and bearing 7 upon. the top of the outwardly-inclined baseflanges of the rails, and having a lateral extension, the outer edges of which being com plementary in contour to the inner face of the side flange of base-plate, and tapered longitudinally at a slightly-greater pitch than the longitudinal flanges of the base-plate which engage said extension, substantially as described.-

4. In a rail-joint the combination with threecontiguous rails each having a head, a web and base flange, base-plates passing un; der the rails at their meeting ends and projeoting laterally therefrom, and each having longitudinal, converging flanges and a transverse flange at the end opposite to the vertex of the angle formed by the said converging flanges, said end, flanges of said base-plates facing each other, wedges engaged under the heads of the rails, and bearing against the flanges of the base-plates, and upon the top of the downwardly-inclined base-flanges of the rails, said wedges gripping the intermediate rail tighter than the end rails, whereby said intermediate rail will be an anchor-rail supporting but not firmly holding the ends of- 

